Even though I don’t have much of an opportunity to travel with my dogs, we go places together all the time. Traveling is a great way to bond and to get out of the house for some adventure. It is also helpful in making sure Maya and Pierson enjoy car rides. Because if the only time your dog rides in the car is when he is going to the vet, he is not going to like riding in the car much.

Actually, Maya loves the vet. She’s weird.

Visiting places around town is also a great way to help socialize your dog. While Pierson still has dog aggression issues, his ventures away from home have really helped lessen his reactions. He is more comfortable going to new places now that it is part of his regular routine. So if you enjoy spending time with your dogs as much as I enjoy spending time with mine, here are some great places you can go that are just around town.

Drive-ThroughI never take my dogs with me if I have to leave them in the car. But there are places I can go where I don’t have to worry about leaving them unattended. Let’s say I am craving ice cream. Well, Maya & Pierson, let’s go to Sonic! I can get ice cream for me and a free ice cream doggie dish for them. If you don’t have a Sonic, there’s always Dairy Queen, Sheridan’s, Andy’s, and other such places. Not all of them have a free sample for the dogs but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. If you don’t care for ice cream, go to another fast food drive-through for a hamburger and fries. Share a fry or two with your dogs. Just a little bit, though. You want to make sure your dog doesn’t get too fat for his dog car harness or pet travel carrier!

Pierson enjoys a free dog dish from Sonic!

Sometimes I will take my dogs to the bank too. Lots of banking transactions are online, but there are still plenty of times when I need to go to the bank. Most times when we use the teller drive-through, they give Maya & Pierson a dog biscuit!

If you have prescriptions you need to pick up, why not take your dogs and use the prescription drive-through? Or the drive-through dry cleaners. Can you think of any other errands around town that have a drive-through service?

ParksMy dogs’ most favorite places to visit around town are the parks. There’s not just an abundance of city parks but there are also some great nearby county and state parks. Maya loves Shawnee Mission Park which is a park in Johnson County, about a 45 minute drive from here. We don’t go there often because Clinton State Park is closer and nearly as nice.

Shawnee Mission Park

Maya and Pierson at Clinton Lake

Off-Leash Dog ParksIf your dog gets along well with other dogs, take him to a dog park. If he doesn’t have a good recall, make sure it is a fenced dog park. There is a nice dog park that Maya goes to near Clinton Lake. It isn’t fenced, but Maya is good about coming when called. She loves this particular dog park because but there is also a nearby stream for her to swim in.

Maya really likes the stream at the dog park in Lawrence, Kansas. (Part of Clinton Lake)

Hiking TrailsA lot of parks have nice walking or hiking trails. Hiking is a fun on-leash activity that Pierson really loves. There are so many scents and sights to check out. He recently went to the Rotary Arboretum here in Lawrence and had a great time. Except for the lady who had two small dogs running around off-leash, it was a great experience for him. For the most part, he didn’t react to seeing other dogs around. (But I did have to pick him up away from the small dogs so that he wouldn’t hurt them.)

This is another hiking trail in Lawrence. We are on a group walk organized just for helping to train leash reactive dogs.

Pet StoreFeel a need to spoil your dog? Let’s go to the pet store and buy a new toy! When Maya and Pierson get low on food, I take Maya with me for a trip to the pet store. Sometimes I take Pierson, but I have to be careful with him because he doesn’t like other dogs. Both love the pet store. Even though I go to get food, most times I end up getting a dog toy too. The main pet stores here in Lawrence where I take my dogs are Petco and Pawsh Wash. The people at Pawsh Wash are awesome and know Maya and Pierson on sight. Sometimes they recognize me too. 😉

Maya plays with Hercules and Bean at Pawsh Wash.

Pet EventsYour local humane society most likely participates in a number of events for dogs all throughout the year. Perhaps they have a gathering for adoptions or microchipping. Whatever the main theme, you will also probably find food and drinks for you and treats for the dogs. There may even be some fun dog activities going on. Check out my previous post on the three upcoming pet events that Maya gets to go to this fall. One of them will have a dog park like setting for her to run around and socialize in. The other one has lots of fun activities like dog agility and disc dogs. I bet your community has several pet events a year too.

This is a photo I took to show how crowded it was at Dogtoberfest 2012 despite the chilly weather. The Greyhound Rescue was right next to us.

Don’t be bored at home. Enjoy life and enjoy it more with your dog. You won’t regret it!

I walked with Pierson to pick up my car from the auto shop and we stopped at Sonic on the way back. Did you know they give out a free sample for your dog?

Time for another edition of Follow Up Friday hosted by HeartLikeADog and SandSpringChesapeakes. Follow Up Friday is where we follow up with the events of the week. So check out what you missed, then go see what our doggy blogging friends are up to with the blog hop below.

Pet Safety Saturday – Outdoor Hiking Safety

I can’t believe I completely forgot to include first aid supplies in my list! Thankfully, all the bloggers talking about first aid this month reminded me and I added it on as an update. Jodi with HeartLikeADog.com suggested other items you should brink hiking – “a flashlight as well as an extra collar and leash.” And she also suggested a pepper blaster. I live in Kansas where the predators are not very big. So it never occurred to me to bring pepper spray. But it sounds like a fantastic idea.

Monday – My Car and Pierson’s Poem

It took forever, but I finally got my car back. I almost had it back last Friday but it died on me as I pulled into my driveway. I couldn’t restart it so had it towed to a repair shop. It was about 3pm so, of course, they didn’t have time to look at it that day. And they were closed on the weekend. They finally had a chance to look at it on Monday and guess what? The car started for them! They even drove it around. They couldn’t find anything wrong with it at all. 😛

My car is home now and seems to be doing fine. It’s almost as good as new. Just look at that shiny new bumper! We’re ready to roll for the next pet event.

Look at my shiny new bumper!

See how pretty it is?

Also, Pierson’s poo poem was selected as one of the winners for the Bad Poetry Day Contest. If you haven’t seen the poem, go check it out on our other blog. The poem is titled, Roses Aren’t Edible, and is a blogging sensation – 30 comments!!! Apparently you all like poo too. 😉

Pet Travel Destination Tuesday

No comments for the post on Seattle, Washington. But I forgot to mention one made by Lindsay with ThatMutt.com from the previous Tuesday. She says, “Our favorite pet friendly travel destination has always been the north shore area of Lake Superior in Minnesota. We can always find dog friendly trails and cabins or hotels. Plus, lots of places for dogs to go swimming.” This sounds like a lot of fun! Tell us more, Lindsay.

Because I own my own business, I pretty much work it seven days a week and our family seldom gets to do much traveling. So, Lindsay and anyone else who’d like to talk about their favorite pet travel destination, feel free to email me with more information and photos for a guest spot.

Question of the Week

How can I keep my dog from wiggling out of the dog car harness?

This is such a common occurrence that we include a tip sheet with all our pet seat belt orders. The fact is if a dog is not used to wearing a harness and hates to be restricted in the car, he is going to try to wiggle his way out of it. And a very determined dog might just be able to do so. How can you keep him from getting out of it? Not by tightening it. In fact, this may make your dog even more determined to get out of it because it makes him uncomfortable. And if it is too tight, he could hurt himself when he tries to wiggle free.

Is there a brand that is escape-proof? Not that we have found so far, though some are more difficult than others. If anyone ever makes the claim that theirs is escape-proof, I can almost guarantee that some dog somewhere will prove them wrong. For one, consider the design of a dog car harness. With safety in mind, the neck of a pet seat belt has to be wide in order to prevent choking. This means it can’t be snug around the neck like a collar.

So what can you do? Our tip sheet suggests training. If you use a Halti or Gentle Leader on your dog for walking, then you probably already have an idea of what to do to get your dog used to wearing a dog car harness. Check out an article we wrote on HubPages for more extensive training tips.

That’s all for today. Thank you so much everyone for stopping by. If you have any questions on pet travel or on any of our products, just comment below or email me at naturebydawn@aol.com. Also, feel free to share information on photos on your favorite pet travel destination.

Pierson tends not to get along with other male dogs so I don’t usually take him to pet events. But I took him to the Dogs Got Talent event at The Dog House in Lawrence, KS this past Saturday and he did very well. He did snap at Buster the Golden Retriever mix once but only as a warning and not as an attack. The two came close to playing together later – close but not quite. Pierson gets along better with Roxy the Dachshund who he has met a few times previously. He is not sure what to think of kids. He let the girl pet him a few times, especially if she had treats. But he wasn’t quite sure if he should trust her.

Buster is getting love while Pierson looks on in the background, probably wondering why he is not getting all the attention.

Girl petting Roxy the Dachshund with Pierson sitting nearby and looking at someone who has treats.

Notice in the above photo that Pierson is wearing some sort of harness. This is the back of her Bergan Pet Car Harness without the tether attached.

I love Wordless Wednesday but it is so difficult not to say a few words. Enjoy other great pet photos in today’s blog hop!

Yay! It’s time once again for the annual Paws in the Park at Gage Park in Topeka. This pet event, which is held Saturday, September 17th between 9am and 12pm, is the biggest fundraiser held by the Helping Hands Humane Society. Participate in the walk for $40 and help thousands of homeless pets. For your participation, you will also receive a t-shirt, pet bandana, and lots of goodies.

If you’re not up for the walk, there will be lots of pet vendors to visit, pancakes and sausage to eat, and pet contests to enter. We, as PetAutoSafety.com and AnimalFigurineStore.com, will be there as a vendor.Come join us for some howlin’ good fun! For more information on this great pet event visit the Helping Hands Humane Society of Topeka.

Join us on Sunday, May 1st at Zona Rosa in Kansas City, Missouri for Woofstock.Woofstock is a fun pet event held to support the Northland Animal Welfare Society.Join the 5k walk/run with your dog.Get exercise, have fun, and support homeless animals all at the same time.Then enjoy live music, win great prizes in the raffle, watch a dog fashion show, or enjoy demonstrations with agility dogs and search and rescue dogs.

There will also be several pet vendors selling their pet wares.We will be there too for our pet auto safety supplies and dog and cat figurines.Look for the Pet Auto Safety.com booth.Other vendors include Three Dog Bakery, Bow Wow Wow Pet Gifts, The Dog Spot, and more!

My dog, Maya, and I had a great time at the Paws in the Park pet event at Gage Park in Topeka, Kansas.I had a booth there for Pet Auto Safety.com and Animal Figurine Store.com.Maya was there to show off her dog seat belt.You can see her wearing her dog seat belt in the photo above.The black harness is her dog seat belt.(I left the connecting strap in the car so it wouldn’t dangle and annoy her.)Maya is also playing with her new toy which we got from one of the vendors next to us. Other photos include a pair of Irish Wolfhounds and a Borzoi.

There were lots of vendors at the event.Many were for profit and many more were for non-profit.Proceeds from the Paws in the Park pet event went to the Topeka Helping Hands Humane Society, including the cost we paid to have our booth there.

Other Paws in the Park pet event activities included pet contests and a dog walk.Maya really wanted to enter the pet contest for best trick (she has been working on some cute tricks) but she had to stay at the booth with me.She still had fun, though.She got to meet lots of people and dogs.She played with some dogs and didn’t jump on or lick anyone when they petted her.She was a really good dog and she is looking forward to the next pet event.

Pet Auto Safety.com is joining U-Wash Puppy for the annual Suds of Fun event to benefit the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. This is our third year at the event and we love it. For just $5, you can utilize the facility of the self-service dog wash at U-Wash Puppy. 100% of your money goes towards the animals at the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City. You can also check out great dogs for adoption and the products of some local pet vendors, including dog car seat belts from Pet Auto Safety.com. Check out the Suds of Fun event at 4pm – 7pm on July 7, 2010 at U-Wash Puppy located at 75th and Nieman in Shawnee, Kansas. For more information on this event, visit the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.

Yesterday, August 16th, 2008, PetAutoSafety.comparticipated in theTails on the Trails event at Ad Astra Park and Swimming Pool. Sephi and Maya came too in order to show off their seat-belt-wearing-skills. We all had a great time. Maya and Sephi made a lot of new friends and PetAutoSafety.com spread the word about the importance of keeping your pet safe when they are in the car.

The Tails on Trails event was sponsored by Lenexa Parks and Recreation in conjunction with the Lenexa Animal Control. Lots of animal-related businesses had booths at the event includingWoof’s Plan & Stay, Bark Busters, Metro Pet Magazine, PawPrints Magazine, and of course,PetAutoSafety.com. The fun activities which took place at this park included puppy swimming, pet/owner look-a-like contest, a bat presentation, pet show and parade, gentle dog training demo, and the Lenexa Police K9 demonstration. There were also fun kid activities such as Make Your Own Dog Treats and the Fire Depart Deluge where the fire department let loose a stream of water from high in the sky so that kids and pets could play in the giant sprinkler.

ClickHERE for more fun photos of the event. Please note that the photos are for online use only.